Chaos And Buttercreamhttp://www.chaosandbuttercream.com
Making the world a happier place one cake at a timeSat, 06 May 2017 19:05:28 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.8Check us out on Facebook!http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/check-us-out-on-facebook/
http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/check-us-out-on-facebook/#respondSat, 06 May 2017 19:05:28 +0000http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/?p=135It’s been a busy few years at Chaos and Buttercream.

For this month’s From Scratch Swap I decided it would be great to make a Gingerbread Love Shack! From Scratch Club is just a fabulous experience and I strongly recommend checking out their page . Here is the link to their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/FromScratchClub?fref=ts

I baked the houses a few days ago and put it together so the royal icing could set up. I brought a display house and put together a kit of some starter candy , a pastry bag of royal icing and the gingerbread structure. Below I am going to post recipes for the Gingerbread House (from the CONFECTIONERY HOUSE web site) and Wilton Royal Icing.

Gingerbread House Recipe

This recipe is for a hard cookie that is perfect for constructing gingerbread houses and ornaments. It contains no eggs or other ingredients that will spoil so it can be made ahead of time.

1 cup shortening

1 ½ cup Unsulfured molasses (12 oz. jar) (Dark or Light)

1 cup sugar

6 cups flour

¼ – ½ cups water

4 tsp. ginger

½ tsp allspice

2 tsp cinnamon

Melt shortening in saucepan on stove or large bowl in microwave.

Cool slightly and add molasses and sugar mix well.

Add flour 2 cups at a time and spices, mix well, add enough water so dough is not crumbly. Knead dough on counter top or pastry board.

Coloring the Dough

At this point you can color dough small pieces at a time. Start by first adding white paste food color to lighten the dough and then what ever color you wish.

Rolling out the dough

Roll the colors on parchment or silicone liners very thin. Cover until ready to use. Dough must be rolled on parchment to cut pieces and bake so you will not distort the pieces by moving them. Using 2 dowel rods as a guide for thickness of dough will insure you an even depth so dough will bake more evenly and pieces will fit together properly. Place the dowels on each side of your parchment (space between dowels should be about an inch less than the length of your rolling pin). Cut out your pieces, remove the excess dough, lift parchment and place on cookie sheet for baking.

Cutting Dough

Place pattern on dough leaving approximately ½ inch between pieces to allow for expansion when baking. Cut straight lines using a craft knife or pizza cutter to avoid dragging of the dough. Carefully lift away excess dough. If you plan to cut out windows or doors this should be done now. This is also the time you should do any imprinting, example – roof shingles, stone brick or siding.

Prepared pieces are baked in a 350 degree oven for 10 – 18 minutes depending on the thickness and size of pieces. For best results all pieces on a tray should be approximately the same size.

Step 2

**When using large countertop mixer or for stiffer icing, use 1 tablespoon less water.

Thinned Royal Icing: To thin for pouring, add 1 teaspoon water per cup of royal icing. Use grease-free spoon or spatula to stir slowly. Add 1/2 teaspoon water at a time until you reach proper consistency

]]>http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/from-scratch-swap/feed/0JANUARY IS FLYING BYhttp://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/january-is-flying-by/
http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/january-is-flying-by/#respondThu, 17 Jan 2013 03:37:40 +0000http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/?p=51Continue reading »]]>It seems like only yesterday it was January 1st…. Now it is Jan 16 !! And far to long since I’ve shared my Chaos!!

The holidays were great ..Had some fun times with family and friends over the holidays and survived the Snow Storm. It felt good to get back down there. Although I did complain to Jeffrey about my LONG COMMUTE to the office !!

There are a few changes notable changes downstairs after our excursion to IKEA (every time you type or say IKEA you should be bathed in a heavenly golden glow and the sounds of trumpets should be heard!!) We purchased pot rack for over both of our stoves. Kitchen Stadium was ready for business!

The beginning of the month started off with a special order for a CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER CAKE some kind of chocolate cookie and something coconutty!

I have been making Carrot Cake and Guinness CarBomb Cake for THE 19TH HOLE restaurant at BRIARCREEK GOLF course. THE MERRY MONK in Albany has ordered MORE

CHOCOLATE INDULGENCE STOUT CAKES

MAKE SURE YOU STOP IN GET SOME GREAT FOOD!!

DON’T FORGET

TO GET DESSERT!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of this months specialty cakes so far this month!

]]>http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/january-is-flying-by/feed/0Whole Lotta Sugar Cookies!!!http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/whole-lotta-sugar-cookies/
http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/whole-lotta-sugar-cookies/#respondWed, 19 Dec 2012 15:13:46 +0000http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/?p=37Continue reading »]]>Well the holidays are still rockin for me.I received the call….. Can you do 31 dozen sugar cookie ornaments for Monday. Of course I accepted what is 31 dozen cookies only 372 cookies and 56 lbs. of cookie dough. Well its only about 8 lbs. of butter… 20 cups of sugar .. 50 cups of flour…40 eggs ….. not a lot!! lol

Saturday was production day. I calculated that I would need 8x the recipe. I fired up the mixer in Kitchen Stadium mixed ,wrapped and packed them away in the fridge till Sunday.

This is a great recipe that I used.

Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter, softened

2 cups white sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Sunday was production day I had my cookie cutter, my rolling pin and my secret weapon JEFFREY!!! Once we had our system down we were unstoppable. Alas we powered through the first 8 batches but were still 90 or so cookies short. I mixed up another double batch and put it in the fridge to firm up. My husband is an awesome addition to Kitchen Stadium. Befor you knew it we had 372 + cookies baked done and wrapped up.

Kat came over at the 9:30 in the morning bearing coffee and sanding sugar. We cranked on some Christmas music and set to work. We had a lots of fun decorating and made a great team. Here are some pics from the day! [See image gallery at www.chaosandbuttercream.com]

]]>http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/whole-lotta-sugar-cookies/feed/0A busy week!http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/a-busy-week/
http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/a-busy-week/#respondSat, 15 Dec 2012 18:31:28 +0000http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/?p=26Continue reading »]]>It seems like the Holiday season is always busy for everyone, and Chaos and Buttercream is no exception! This week I’ve been baking up a storm including more gingerbread houses, stout cake, carrot cake, sugar cookies, turkish cookies, a syrian recipe cake, and did I mention gingerbread houses?
[See image gallery at www.chaosandbuttercream.com]

Hmmm, there was one other thing that I made, what was it?

Chocolate…truffles…with…BACON!

Some people think the whole bacon thing is overblown. My dear husband is still of the opinion that pretty much everything is better with bacon. I’m going to have to side with him on this one. There are a lot of great things about bacon, it has great flavor, mouth feel and a bit of salt that helps you get the most out of all of the flavors in the recipe.

]]>http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/a-busy-week/feed/0Getting Started!http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/getting-started/
http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/getting-started/#respondMon, 10 Dec 2012 18:40:46 +0000http://www.chaosandbuttercream.com/wp/?p=18Continue reading »]]>It’s been an exciting few weeks at kitchen stadium as we get ready for the holidays in addition to our regular restaurant orders!

On 12/5 I was at Harmony House Marketplace where I taught 18 eager pupils the fine art of gingerbread house construction. Fortunately the class was in the evening so code enforcement didn’t come by to check out the structural integrity of the houses or eat all of the candy decorations! Here are a couple of suggestions when creating your own gingerbread masterpieces:

Use a dowel on either side of your dough as you roll it out. This will create uniform thickness parts after baking which will make assembly much easier!

Gingerbread needs to harden in the air for awhile before you start assembling. Bake it a couple of days ahead and leave it out to dry.

Attach the tops of the roof together with a piece of paper using royal icing as the glue and let it sit over night. You’ll end up with a “book” shape that will go over the peaks of the walls which will be much more stable than if you just try and stick them together when assembling. The paper goes on the inside of course!

Don’t use too much icing when assembling the pieces as icing flows when there’s too much of it.

This week I’ll be making desserts for a party celebrating the Capital Regions foreign business partners that showcases some of the areas up and coming businesses. I will also be crafting a special cake for a company holiday party that has a few surprising features!